The jury for the second Apple vs Samsung patent case has now been selected after a number of potential jurors were dismissed for possible bias. Apple is seeking damages of up to $40 per device sold for those Samsung phones and tablets it says violate up to five Apple patents, while Samsung is counter-claiming that Apple devices violate two of its own patents.
Unlike the previous trial, in which the similarity of Samsung’s hardware to iPhones and iPads was a key issue, the patents in dispute here are all software ones, and include standard Android features, leading some to suggest that Google is the real target in this case.
Trying to find unbiased jurors in Silicon Valley was never going to be an easy exercise, and several of those with connections to the tech sector were accepted. The court also found it impractical to eliminate jurors because they owned products from one or both companies, and it’s been reported that most own at least one Apple device, with some also owning Samsung TVs.
The final jury comprises six women and four men. Occupations include a former IBM manager, county government employee, accountant, store clerk, plumber, secretary, police department community service officer and a retired teacher.
The trial opens today with a video providing an overview of patent law, before opening arguments from each side. Apple has scheduled senior VP of marketing Phil Schiller as its first witness. The trial is expected to last around a month.
In the previous patent case between the two companies, Apple was initially awarded $1B in damages before $450M was cut, with a retrial ordered to look again at the damages awarded for some of the patents. The retrial awarded Apple $290M instead for that portion of the case, giving Apple a revised total award of $930M. Apple did, however, fail in an attempt to obtain an injunction against the products found to infringe its patents.
